Smoking in Public Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Smoking in Public - Essay Example This paper tells that even though banning public smoking risks edging out restaurant and bar operators from business, it remains a viable option to curbing the problem. Second-hand smoke has the potential of causing cancer. Considered as a cancer-causing agent, ACS categorizes it as a known human carcinogen. The smoke from tobacco is said to contain over 7,000 chemical compounds, 250 of which are known to be harmful and more than 69 said to cause cancer (Schneider 201). It has been specifically linked to lung cancer. Other than cancer, second-hand smoke has been noted to cause other diseases. Notably, this behavior propagates heart disease. Thus, public smoking makes innocent people incur avoidable medical expenses and the associated psychological trauma having a loved one suffer from these diseases. It strains public resources that would have otherwise been used to adequately cater for other illnesses. Ultimately, it causes the death of many loved ones leaving many people distraught and perhaps without any other source of income. American Cancer Society documents an estimated 3,400 deaths and another 46,000 deaths related to lung cancer and heart disease respectively resulting from the exposure of adults to second-hand smoke. Who would want to be involuntarily subjected to such diseases that cause premature deaths? I consider those with the behavior of public smoking as murderers who swiftly kill innocent members of the public with their smoke. Just like murder is acceptable behavior, public smoking is also unacceptable. Public smoking is an inhumane behavior that subjects even children to a harsh environment. As people smoke in public, even children get exposed to the second-hand smoke without their knowledge. ACS documents a set of many deadly diseases that could result from children being exposed to second-hand smoke including leukemia and throat (pharynx), voice box (throlarynx), bladder, brain, stomach, breast and rectum cancers. Since childhood is a stag e of development where humans learn by copying, these children could also acquire smoking habits, particularly public smoking tendencies. Wakefield et al. (322) observe that childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke increases tolerance of such children to tobacco smoke and consequently sensitize such children to adopt active smoking in their teenage by reducing first cigarette noxious deterrence. Such children grow up to be established smokers in their teenage and adulthood. With the World Health Organization, the global leader in health matters, acknowledging the devastating economic costs of smoking, public smoking, therefore, condemns such children to a future of a devastated financial life. It could also lead to the acquisition of secondary antisocial behaviors such as theft. Therefore, public smoking is antisocial behavior that imparts antisocial behavior on children. It risks the life of the future generation, not only literally, but also behaviorally. With all these n egative effects of public smoking, banning the behavior would be beneficial to the society in general.